I don't understand the positioning of the iPad Mini. The tech is too old, the price is too high.

I don't understand the outrage over the 4th-gen iPad being introduced so soon after the 3rd-gen model was released. How many different "Galaxy" tablet models has Samsung announced since 2010? I count at least four at the 10"-class size alone.

In all seriousness, my wife is a non-techy, average computer user. She's been running a piece of shiat LG netbook for a few years. She saw the iPad mini and immediately wanted one. For what she wants, it's perfect. She's going to buy one with her Christmas money.

As a teacher, I can tell you that the iPad mini will kill in the education market. My school division has already begun equipping schools with iPads; my school has a cart, plus three in each classroom. For about $75,000 we could purchase enough iPad minis to get us to a 1:1 ratio. Meanwhile, we're fundraising to buy a playground - which costs $250,000 and I find completely asinine.

So... You'd rather the little snowballs sit and be dormant...

Nice

Your comment tells me that either you lack reading comprehension skills, or are too lazy to read any of my earlier comments. Idiot.

Wintermute6:I've got an iPhone 5 and a Nexus 7, so aren't a fanboy of either, but this really is an underwhelming release to me. First, there's the older hardware inside and sub-Retina display. Second, for the price and the size, you may as well save a bit more and get a full-sized iPad if you really want an Apple tablet.

You have to stop calling it a Retina display. It's called an AMOLED, and Apple did not invent it.

MadSkillz:Wintermute6: I've got an iPhone 5 and a Nexus 7, so aren't a fanboy of either, but this really is an underwhelming release to me. First, there's the older hardware inside and sub-Retina display. Second, for the price and the size, you may as well save a bit more and get a full-sized iPad if you really want an Apple tablet.

You have to stop calling it a Retina display. It's called an AMOLED, and Apple did not invent it.

None of the Apple products use AMOLED, they are all IPS LCD for the Retina screens. And "Retina" is really just a measure of how high the pixel density is and what the normal viewing distance is (a phone is generally around 326 or so ppi, and a tablet is generally around 250 ppi or so), so even a 32" 720p TV mounted on the bedroom wall is technical "retina" since you can't easily discern the individual pixels when watching TV in bed.

Irving Maimway:The first Kindle Fire, once applied with side loaded apps was a great entertainer of children at decent dining establishments. Slap a couple of ripped movies and some Blue's Clues on there and the boy ate all his dinner bites and let the Ex-Mrs. Maimway and I enjoy a nice dinner.

Jeez, you're one of those people? Since when did this become acceptable in society? I will never let my kids do this in restaurants, it just shows lazy parenting and also it's not good for their health (science shows that kids are more likely to overeat when they're being distracted by TV and other entertainment devices).

The Banana Thug:Irving Maimway: The first Kindle Fire, once applied with side loaded apps was a great entertainer of children at decent dining establishments. Slap a couple of ripped movies and some Blue's Clues on there and the boy ate all his dinner bites and let the Ex-Mrs. Maimway and I enjoy a nice dinner.

Jeez, you're one of those people? Since when did this become acceptable in society? I will never let my kids do this in restaurants, it just shows lazy parenting and also it's not good for their health (science shows that kids are more likely to overeat when they're being distracted by TV and other entertainment devices).

I'm sure some fanboy will correct me on this but isn't the reason that Apple didn't go with this size tablet to begin with was that Steve Jobs found it too small to be useful and that was why they went with the 10" size. This was at the time that the Nook and Kindle, etc were popping up in the 7" size range. Is this just the first barrage in the "let's 2nd guess the greatest tech marketing guy ever because I'm in charge now" era at Apple?

The Banana Thug:Irving Maimway: The first Kindle Fire, once applied with side loaded apps was a great entertainer of children at decent dining establishments. Slap a couple of ripped movies and some Blue's Clues on there and the boy ate all his dinner bites and let the Ex-Mrs. Maimway and I enjoy a nice dinner.

Jeez, you're one of those people? Since when did this become acceptable in society? I will never let my kids do this in restaurants, it just shows lazy parenting and also it's not good for their health (science shows that kids are more likely to overeat when they're being distracted by TV and other entertainment devices).

Okay:

1 I don't see anywhere I was letting my kid overeat.

2 All four grandparents are dead and we didn't have any babysitters. So if I wanted to take my ex some place the boy came with us.

3 If you can find a way to get manners and polite society behavior into a three year-old, I'd love to hear how you do this.

Based on your "I will" statement, sounds like you're not raising toddlers and are speaking from this magical place of omnipotence. So unless you can miracle my parents back from the dead to watch the grandkids they never got to see, or find a great baby sitter finder that doesn't involve doing background checks or paying for a screening service, your judgemental arse can go fark itself.

advex101:I'm sure some fanboy will correct me on this but isn't the reason that Apple didn't go with this size tablet to begin with was that Steve Jobs found it too small to be useful and that was why they went with the 10" size. This was at the time that the Nook and Kindle, etc were popping up in the 7" size range. Is this just the first barrage in the "let's 2nd guess the greatest tech marketing guy ever because I'm in charge now" era at Apple?

Leeds:burndtdan: I'd love a tablet of this size for consuming content... watching netflix on the treadmill, browsing fark or reddit on the couch. It would be great.

But I already have a laptop and a smart phone. Even the Nexus at $200 is a bit pricey for a midpoint device, and this thing is just not gonna happen.

Wait until Tuesday of next week when the Nexus drops another $50 in price.

And don't consider it a "midpoint" device- There are no tablets of any size that are faster than the Nexus.

By midpoint I mean halfway between a laptop and a phone, not in size (though that's true) but more in needed functionality. I don't have a tablet, but anything I would use a tablet for I already have in one form or another. So while a tablet would be nice to have, I find it hard to say I need to have it.

Irving Maimway:Based on your "I will" statement, sounds like you're not raising toddlers and are speaking from this magical place of omnipotence. So unless you can miracle my parents back from the dead to watch the grandkids they never got to see, or find a great baby sitter finder that doesn't involve doing background checks or paying for a screening service, your judgemental arse can go fark itself.

Don't worry most Farkers don't have kids and if they do they are teenagers so they don't remember what it was like or they selectively remember only the good times. I have 3 toddlers and we give them our phones just to keep them still if we go out. If we don't they have issues with food taking too long to come out or just plain bored.

Coloring usually keeps them busy for about 10 min tops then after that it's lets see who can get mom and dad the maddest. Just give it to them and ignore the trolls that say otherwise because they have selective memory. My son/daughter was such an angel.. except for all those times they throw fits when we took them out but that one time that I do remember they were just sooo perfect.

The stories I have of my kids are such legend at my work that people always ask me what the kids are getting into recently. 15lb bag of flour at 5am was so far their favorite.

TNel:Irving Maimway: Based on your "I will" statement, sounds like you're not raising toddlers and are speaking from this magical place of omnipotence. So unless you can miracle my parents back from the dead to watch the grandkids they never got to see, or find a great baby sitter finder that doesn't involve doing background checks or paying for a screening service, your judgemental arse can go fark itself.

Don't worry most Farkers don't have kids and if they do they are teenagers so they don't remember what it was like or they selectively remember only the good times. I have 3 toddlers and we give them our phones just to keep them still if we go out. If we don't they have issues with food taking too long to come out or just plain bored.

Coloring usually keeps them busy for about 10 min tops then after that it's lets see who can get mom and dad the maddest. Just give it to them and ignore the trolls that say otherwise because they have selective memory. My son/daughter was such an angel.. except for all those times they throw fits when we took them out but that one time that I do remember they were just sooo perfect.

The stories I have of my kids are such legend at my work that people always ask me what the kids are getting into recently. 15lb bag of flour at 5am was so far their favorite.

Thank you. A parent speaks!

Actually, puzzles and coloring books are his top choices. Now when food shows up, interactive things are off until a proper amount of dinner bites are consumed. The speed he does puzzles kills me.

The Little Critter and Dr Seuss books from Ocean House Media in the Play Store are fantastic. Cannot recommend them highly enough.

Mad_Radhu:farkeruk: jayhawk88: But everyone is losing their shiat over the new iMac, because it's so thin. You know, because all the countless hours you looked at your computer from the side have really taken their toll.

THIS

Thinner desktop PCs are a bad thing, because it means that more and more of it is wired to the motherboard, for little gain. I can't dig all-in-one PCs at all. I've got a space under my desk where a tower can happily live and I get lower maintenance costs.

The only real advantage I see is that probably lowers the weight of the 27" enough that you might not need a super beefy monitor arm for it. Otherwise, thin isn't really an advantage for a desktop.

In all seriousness, my wife is a non-techy, average computer user. She's been running a piece of shiat LG netbook for a few years. She saw the iPad mini and immediately wanted one. For what she wants, it's perfect. She's going to buy one with her Christmas money.

As a teacher, I can tell you that the iPad mini will kill in the education market. My school division has already begun equipping schools with iPads; my school has a cart, plus three in each classroom. For about $75,000 we could purchase enough iPad minis to get us to a 1:1 ratio. Meanwhile, we're fundraising to buy a playground - which costs $250,000 and I find completely asinine.

Why would you want minis for education? Big screen would be better, no? And replacing it every few years would be insane.

IMDWalrus:Kate Gosselin's Pap Smear: iPad 3 and galaxy note owner here. I was going to sell the iPad and get two minis until they said the mini was $329. Apple has completely missed the point on mini tablets.

Seriously. At $250, maybe it might have been worth a look. Too bad it's $80 more than that. Unless you're one of those hardcore Apple fans blind to the outside world there's no reason not to get a Kindle Fire, Nexus 7, or something that's more capable and has better features for the same price as an iPad Mini.

I disagree--- I'm not blind to the outside world, I run an IT department and the apps that I use are not available on android. I love the idea of having a smaller lte tablet so I can work remotely.

The price isn't bad at all either. From everything I have read the build quality is very superior to android tablets, plus apple doesn't sell their hardware at a loss. Their business model is profit, just like 99.9% of all other businesses out there.

It's a race to the bottom for all the other cheap tablets, it seems. Nexus looks good, but there is no such thing a good, cheap computer/tablet/smartphone.

The Banana Thug:Irving Maimway: The first Kindle Fire, once applied with side loaded apps was a great entertainer of children at decent dining establishments. Slap a couple of ripped movies and some Blue's Clues on there and the boy ate all his dinner bites and let the Ex-Mrs. Maimway and I enjoy a nice dinner.

Jeez, you're one of those people? Since when did this become acceptable in society? I will never let my kids do this in restaurants, it just shows lazy parenting and also it's not good for their health (science shows that kids are more likely to overeat when they're being distracted by TV and other entertainment devices).

Dude, seriously, STFU. I'd rather he let his kid play with a tablet than be like far too many parents these days and let his kid cry and scream and irritate the whole freaking restaurant when I'm trying to eat.

The tech journalists keep going on and on about that, but I don't see what the point of that product would be. Margins in the HDTV market are razor thin, and the smart features on my Samsung 8000-series HDTV go completely unused because my XBox and PS3 do everything those apps do, but 1000% better.

Irving Maimway:Based on your "I will" statement, sounds like you're not raising toddlers and are speaking from this magical place of omnipotence. So unless you can miracle my parents back from the dead to watch the grandkids they never got to see, or find a great baby sitter finder that doesn't involve doing background checks or paying for a screening service, your judgemental arse can go fark itself.

IMDWalrus:Kate Gosselin's Pap Smear: iPad 3 and galaxy note owner here. I was going to sell the iPad and get two minis until they said the mini was $329. Apple has completely missed the point on mini tablets.

Seriously. At $250, maybe it might have been worth a look. Too bad it's $80 more than that. Unless you're one of those hardcore Apple fans blind to the outside world there's no reason not to get a Kindle Fire, Nexus 7, or something that's more capable and has better features for the same price as an iPad Mini.

Particularly since there will likely be a $99 Android tablet offered on Black Friday by someone in a few weeks that covers all the internet surfing/Pandora/Spotify/Angry Birds needs of 99% of tablet users.

InmanRoshi:IMDWalrus: Kate Gosselin's Pap Smear: iPad 3 and galaxy note owner here. I was going to sell the iPad and get two minis until they said the mini was $329. Apple has completely missed the point on mini tablets.

Seriously. At $250, maybe it might have been worth a look. Too bad it's $80 more than that. Unless you're one of those hardcore Apple fans blind to the outside world there's no reason not to get a Kindle Fire, Nexus 7, or something that's more capable and has better features for the same price as an iPad Mini.

Particularly since there will likely be a $99 Android tablet offered on Black Friday by someone in a few weeks that covers all the internet surfing/Pandora/Spotify/Angry Birds needs of 99% of tablet users.

Hell, I got a cheapie Polaroid tablet for my sister-in-law six months ago that handles her needs (e-reader/web surfing/casual gaming) just fine. I think it was about $80. I had to sideload the Google Play store on it for her, but that was simple (and not, strictly speaking, necessary; it came with the Amazon App Store pre-loaded).

Mad_Radhu:mccallcl: Apple is going to make a TV. You heard it here first(?)

The tech journalists keep going on and on about that, but I don't see what the point of that product would be. Margins in the HDTV market are razor thin, and the smart features on my Samsung 8000-series HDTV go completely unused because my XBox and PS3 do everything those apps do, but 1000% better.

The point is to make the best experience in the world. When phones weren't good enough, apple made one that was. Now my Mac shiat is better than the tv I plug it into. So apple will make one of those. Look at their product line: flat, glass rectangles. What else comes in a flat glass rectangle?

change1211:Ess_Aytch: moothemagiccow: smart board is a 4x2.5 ft touch screen from 1998. Like a digital chalkboard. Never took off because of the price. Schools with too much money would buy one for the whole campus. I suppose they're still going.

Uhhh....just about every school in my province has installed a Smart Board in just about every classroom. They're quite popular, actually.

Which province is this?

Ontario, they are everywhere in the Catholic system. Can't speak for the public board.... Fantastic tool for teachers and students, the wife loves hers.

mccallcl:Mad_Radhu: mccallcl: Apple is going to make a TV. You heard it here first(?)

The tech journalists keep going on and on about that, but I don't see what the point of that product would be. Margins in the HDTV market are razor thin, and the smart features on my Samsung 8000-series HDTV go completely unused because my XBox and PS3 do everything those apps do, but 1000% better.

The point is to make the best experience in the world. When phones weren't good enough, apple made one that was. Now my Mac shiat is better than the tv I plug it into. So apple will make one of those. Look at their product line: flat, glass rectangles. What else comes in a flat glass rectangle?

change1211:Ess_Aytch: moothemagiccow: smart board is a 4x2.5 ft touch screen from 1998. Like a digital chalkboard. Never took off because of the price. Schools with too much money would buy one for the whole campus. I suppose they're still going.

Uhhh....just about every school in my province has installed a Smart Board in just about every classroom. They're quite popular, actually.

Which province is this?

Alberta. And from the sounds of it, Ontario is the same. I doubt we're the only two provinces.

Ess_Aytch:change1211: Ess_Aytch: moothemagiccow: smart board is a 4x2.5 ft touch screen from 1998. Like a digital chalkboard. Never took off because of the price. Schools with too much money would buy one for the whole campus. I suppose they're still going.

Uhhh....just about every school in my province has installed a Smart Board in just about every classroom. They're quite popular, actually.

Which province is this?

Alberta. And from the sounds of it, Ontario is the same. I doubt we're the only two provinces.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure every classroom in Alberta doesn't have a Smartboard. Are you sure it's not just your district?

Ess_Aytch:machoprogrammer: Why would you want minis for education? Big screen would be better, no? And replacing it every few years would be insane.

Minis would be great in an elementary school: smaller hands.

I'm not sure what the replacement rate is for the tech in our division. They're cheaper than buying PCs or MacBooks, but I'm sure they'd be replaced less often.

It doesn't matter what the computer replacement cycle is. Tablets and laptops get replaced earlier than any other tech. Computers can last 7 years easily. Laptops can be pushed to 5 years, tablets have a 3 year lifecycle and are a PITA to replace parts on so you have no choice but to buy warranties on all of them so that $320 just went up to $400 a pop.

I hate that Apple is the only vendor that has a decent school program right now and just wish Android would get on the ball and do something similiar.

change1211:Ess_Aytch: change1211: Ess_Aytch: moothemagiccow: smart board is a 4x2.5 ft touch screen from 1998. Like a digital chalkboard. Never took off because of the price. Schools with too much money would buy one for the whole campus. I suppose they're still going.

Uhhh....just about every school in my province has installed a Smart Board in just about every classroom. They're quite popular, actually.

Which province is this?

Alberta. And from the sounds of it, Ontario is the same. I doubt we're the only two provinces.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure every classroom in Alberta doesn't have a Smartboard. Are you sure it's not just your district?

I didn't say every. I said "just about" every. In three boards I have worked or volunteered in, Smart or another interactive whiteboards have been installed in a vast majority of the classrooms. Smart Boards have been the most popular with teachers by far.